"Once you live a good story, you get a taste for a kind of meaning in life, and you can't go back to being normal; you can't go back to the meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time." -Donald Miller

French Quarter

The French Quarter is the oldest neighborhood in New Orleans. It was founded in 1719 and most of the existing architecture in the neighborhood was built in the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s. It’s my experience that if you ask someone what to do there, the first thing they mention is the food. The second is the best locations and streets to party. I will talk more about the food tomorrow.

The neighborhood is very unique and has a lot of charm. If you have younger children like us you want to be careful where you take them. I got a lot of recommendations of where not to go and so we didn’t really run into any problems but it pays to research where to go. We ended up walking 6 miles the day we visited just wandering the quarter and looking through interesting stores and shops.

We visited Cafe Du Monde and then took a look at the mighty Mississippi river. I have been to the Mississippi headwaters quite a few times in Lake Itasca State Park in Minnesota so it was fun to see where the river ends as it enters the Gulf of Mexico. We spent a little time watching barges go by.

Jackson Square is a famous area with a lot of history. Andrew Jackson is captured on his mount with his hat raised. He seemed pretty bummed that he is going to be taken off of the $20 bill.

The St. Louis Cathedral is right by Jackson Square and it is the oldest Cathedral in the United States. It was very beautiful and the stained glass windows were amazing.

My favorite thing was the street music. There were a lot of amazing performers with crowds that were really into the music.

We had a really good time and it was a very unique experience. If you are with kids do some research on where to go and how to be safe and you will find it to be a very original experience.